Kristaps Porzingis Trade Rumors: Knicks' Reported Celtics Asking Price Revealed
Frank Isola of the New York Daily News reported Thursday that the New York Knicks have asked the Boston Celtics for a hefty return in a potential trade for Kristaps Porzingis.
According to Isola, the Knicks asked for the No. 3 overall pick in the 2017 NBA draft, the Brooklyn Nets' first-round pick in 2018 and forwards Jaylen Brown and Jae Crowder.
Isola added that the Celtics believe the asking price is too high, although they are open to tweaking the deal to include one draft pick rather than two.
According to ESPN's Ian Begley, the Celtics offered New York the No. 3 overall pick in Thursday's draft, a player and another lottery pick it believes it can acquire in a separate trade.
Per Michael Scotto of Basketball Insiders, the Celtics have spoken with the Minnesota Timberwolves about trading for the No. 7 overall selection in the 2017 NBA draft.
The 7'3" Porzingis is among the fastest-rising big men in the NBA, but there have been signs that he may be unhappy with the Knicks.
According to Begley, Porzingis skipped team exit meetings in April due to frustrations over turmoil within the organization.
When asked about potentially trading the Latvian on Wednesday, team president Phil Jackson confirmed the Knicks were listening to offers, per Begley:
"We're getting calls. As much as we value Kristaps and what he's done for us, when a guy doesn't show up for an exit meeting, everybody starts speculating on the duration or movability from a club. So we've been getting calls and we're listening, but we're not intrigued yet at this level. But as much as we love this guy, we have to do what's good for our club."
The 21-year-old star was the No. 4 overall pick in the 2015 NBA draft, and he performed at a high level last season with 18.1 points, 7.2 rebounds and 2.0 blocks per game.
While Porzingis seems like the ideal building block, the Knicks don't appear to be anywhere close to contending.
Acquiring a pair of first-round picks, a hard-nosed forward in Crowder and the 2016 No. 3 overall pick in Brown would be a great haul for Porzingis, but Celtics general manager Danny Ainge is reportedly unwilling to shrink his considerable mountain of assets to such a large degree.
